The planetarium at Palomar
College is a beautiful new facility built to
serve Palomar College and the Community of San
Diego. However it is a very expensive place to
operate. Funds from Proposition M were used to
build this state-of-the-art venue, but
operational costs are paid for from our weekly
revenue and from donations. We take great pride in offering
quality educational and entertaining
presentations to all visitors to the planetarium
while keeping our ticket prices low and
affordable - offering many discounts to kids,
seniors, military, and students. With the
exception of the salary of the Planetarium
Director, there is NO additional regular funding
provided by the College. As you may know
the College is facing one of the most difficult
financial times of its 65 year history and
additional funding for the planetarium is not
possible. The Planetarium must be
self-supporting and so relies on revenue from
ticket sales and, more importantly, we rely on
the generous donations made by the community.

Some of the
ways that your donation helps support the
Planetarium:

Student Workers
The planetarium
support staff is
composed of
student workers
from Palomar
College and
other local
colleges.
These workers
learn valuable
skills related
to running a
public outreach
venue, operating
telescopes, and
using the
Digistar 4
presentation
technology.
Your donation
helps us pay the
hourly wages of
these student
workers and
provides an
income while
they are
attending
college courses.

Student workers
Ann and Steve
learn how to use
the telescopes
for the
planetarium.

Public
Outreach
Public outreach
is one of the
main missions of
the planetarium.
Most of the
public outreach
events that we
offer are free
to the public
but have certain
inherent costs
involved that
become difficult
when we offer an
event to the
public at no
cost but still
pay our student
workers and pay
for refreshments
and other costs
involved.
Your donation
helps us offset
these costs and
allows us to
offer more
events for you
to participate
in! Here
are a few ways
your donation
helps our public
outreach
mission:

+ Providing opportunities for the public to
participate in
timely
astronomical
events
The
planetarium
opens it doors
to the public
when there are
astronomical
events
that
can be observed
by the public.
We set up
telescopes and
provide
programming
in the
planetarium
theater to help
the public learn
more about the
event.

+ Guest Speaker Program
Your
donation pays
for logistical
support of
inviting guest
speakers and
paying
for
the related
costs such as
honoraria,
lodging, etc.

+ Purchasing telescope equipment that is used on
our Public
Nights and other
public events
Each Friday we
set up our
telescopes to
allow the public
to view the
various
celestial
objects
that are visible
for that night.
We are in need
of additional
equipment to go
with
the telescopes
(such as
eyepieces,
filters,
finders, charts,
etc.) Your
donation
helps
us pay for this
equipment.

600+ people from
the community
attended our
Transit of Venus
event in 2012!

Full
Dome Features
Each week we
offer a full
dome feature
that is a
visually
immersive way to
take the
audience on an
astronomically
related journey.
These shows are
critically
acclaimed and
professionally
produced by
Hollywood
caliber
production
studios.
However these
features are
expensive - often
costing $12,000
or more to
license to the
planetarium so
that we can
offer them to
you. Your
donation helps
us come up with
the funds to
acquire more
shows and offer
a richer variety
of features to
the public.

How To Make A Donation

Donations are
tax-deductable and can be made to the
planetarium in any amount. Here are a few
ways to make a donation:

Join the
Friends of the Planetarium
- This will allow your donation to work for the
planetarium AND you will be able to enjoy the
many benefits of being a part of the FOP.
CLICK HERE for more details.

Mail us a
check - Make the
check payable to "Palomar College Foundation"
and put in the memo "Planetarium". Mail it
to: Palomar College Planetarium, 1140 West
Mission Road, San Marcos CA 92069. Once
the check is received we will send you a thank
you letter with information for your taxes.

Donation Made
Through Our Website -
Donations can be made with a credit/debit card
through our planetarium website.

Donation Made
When Purchasing Tickets
- During the online ticket purchase
procedure there is an option to make a donation
to the planetarium in any amount.

In Person
- We have a donation box in the lobby of
our planetarium. We welcome any and all
donations in any amount!

We thank you for considering a donation to the
Palomar College Planetarium. Your donation
will support the public outreach mission of the
planetarium and help us keep this wonderful
facility a dynamic place that offers a quality
experience and educational shows to the students
and public of the Palomar College community!